Wanting to Kill You With Zero Risk

The man speaking was tall and strong, his eyes glinting with a fierce, greedy light, looking as if he had Xie An completely in his grasp.

It was clear they were bandits who regularly preyed on merchants and travelers in the area. Xie An had been targeted by them when he was at the Yong'an Pawnshop, and they had followed him all the way here. Seeing that Xie An and his companion were just two old country bumpkins with no backing, they had bared their fangs.

There was also another possibility… that these bandits were in cahoots with the Yong'an Pawnshop.

Xie An felt quite speechless. He had thought that doing business in the county town would be much safer. He hadn't expected… that the danger wasn't within the city, but outside it.

The two sides were separated by more than ten meters. Although Xie An's senses were much sharper than before, he couldn't discern the opponent's strength. He tightened the dagger hidden in his sleeve with his right hand, remaining vigilant.

Seeing that Xie An hadn't spoken, Chen He thought Xie An had been intimidated. He gritted his teeth, jumped down from the carriage, placed a small silver ingot worth ten taels on the ground, and bowed with a fawning smile.

"Three esteemed heroes, I am Chen He, the younger brother of Chen Lei, the master of the Chen Martial Arts School in Wuqiao Town. Please be lenient."

The Chen Martial Arts School was the only martial arts school in Wuqiao Town and had a considerable reputation in several surrounding townships. When Chen He traveled, if he encountered minor bandits, announcing his name usually had a deterrent effect. Coupled with a bit of silver and a couple of smiles, the bandits generally wouldn't make things too difficult for him.

But today was an exception.

The tall man who had spoken first suddenly burst into laughter, "Ah San, have you ever heard of this so-called Chen Martial Arts School?"

A man to his left, named Ah San, shook his head and sneered, "Brother Wei, our Giant Whale Gang only recognizes the four major martial arts schools in the county town. Anything else… is just a rabble, not worth mentioning."

When Xie An heard the other party voluntarily reveal their affiliation, he knew they had no intention of letting him live.

It was like a kidnapped person seeing the kidnapper's face…

As expected—

The man called Brother Wei's smile became even more mocking, "You think ten taels of silver can get you off the hook? Are you trying to send away a beggar? Ah San, Wang Wu. Stop wasting your breath on these two old geezers. Kill them directly. All the money is ours."

Clang! Clang!

Ah San and Wang Wu drew their sabers from their scabbards. The friction of the blades against the scabbard mouths sent sparks flying, which were particularly striking under the moonlight.

"Please spare us, sirs. I'll give you all my money."

Sensing that the three were about to make a move, Xie An "fearfully" jumped down from the carriage. Trembling, he took out five large silver ingots from his bundle and displayed them in front of the three men.

Although it was deep in the night, the full moon hung high in the sky, and its bright moonlight cascaded down, making the silver gleam.

Indeed, when the three robbers saw the dazzling silver ingots, they didn't rush to attack. Instead, greedy expressions appeared on their faces.

Xie An's peripheral vision caught the greed in the three men's expressions. He felt that these three seemed a bit unsophisticated, unlikely to be master thieves.

With this thought, Xie An formulated a plan, but his face became even more "fearful." "If I give you these five large silver ingots, will you let this old man live?"

The three men were quite pleased with Xie An's terrified demeanor. The man called Ah San said, "Quick, throw the silver over."

The Giant Whale Gang was a ruthless criminal organization that specialized in ambushing and robbing unsuspecting merchants and travelers in the vicinity. Although these three men had been robbing for years, this was the first time they had encountered such a plump sheep like Xie An, carrying such a large sum of money.

After all, anyone daring to travel out of the city late at night with such a fortune likely had connections and would bring guards.

Today, they had truly found a fat sheep.

No wonder they were so excited.

However, they had no intention of letting Xie An go just yet.

They wanted the money, and they wanted to kill him too.

Otherwise, if someone were to report them to the authorities later… it would undoubtedly cause a lot of trouble.

"Catch."

Xie An threw the five large silver ingots over.

Ah San excitedly raised his hand to catch them. The moment his hand touched the silver ingots, a sharp whistling sound suddenly echoed in his ears.

"Whoosh!"

An arrow, carrying a sharp whistling sound, shot towards him. Ah San suddenly realized something was wrong and shouted, "Not good!" Instinctively, he reached out to grab the arrow, but the arrow was too fast and too powerful.

As Ah San's hand grasped the arrow, the arrowhead, propelled by its immense kinetic energy, slipped through his palm and pierced his neck with a loud "thwack."

"Hh… hh…"

He opened his mouth, wanting to say something. But his windpipe had been pierced, and he couldn't draw a breath. He finally fell to the ground stiffly, leaving only the pungent smell of blood, which permeated the autumn wind.

"Ah San!"

"Third Brother!"

Brother Wei and Wang Wu shouted, their faces a mixture of shock and anger.

They had spent half the day scouting and confirmed that these two old country men didn't have any guards, believing they were two fat sheep that could be easily handled.

They never expected that this old man would be so ruthless.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Brother Wei shouted sternly, "Well done, you dog hunter! Wang Wu, go kill that old man named Chen. I'll deal with this hunter."

With their roles clearly defined, Wang Wu swung his saber at Chen He.

Meanwhile, Brother Wei charged towards Xie An, swinging his saber. To avoid being hit by arrows, Brother Wei didn't move in a straight line but changed direction, weaving left and right as he advanced.

Whoosh!

Xie An drew his bow and loosed an arrow. However, his archery skills weren't quite up to par, and the arrow missed.

"..."

Xie An felt a bit speechless, thinking to himself that Brother Wei was cunning. However, he didn't panic. He quickly assessed the situation before him: Brother Wei was less than ten meters away, and in another breath, he would be right in front of him.

There was still a chance for an arrow.

Although Xie An didn't think he was a match for Brother Wei, he didn't want to take any risks fighting him up close. It would be best to shoot him dead before he got any closer.

Whoosh!

After quickly aiming, the second arrow was shot out with a bang. The bowstring hummed, and the arrow whistled through the air. In an instant, with a "clang," Brother Wei deflected it with his saber. In the blink of an eye, he rushed in front of Xie An and raised his saber, slashing fiercely towards Xie An's face.

Xie An didn't have time to complain about his rookie-like archery skills. He abruptly sat down on the ground, feigning fear and despair.

"A mere hunter dares to kill a disciple of my Giant Whale Gang, die for me!"

Seeing this, Brother Wei was overjoyed. He turned the blade of his saber and slashed fiercely at Xie An. At this moment, Brother Wei was confident of victory. He felt little grief or anger over Ah San's death. Instead, he felt it was a good thing that there was one less person to share the money with, meaning he could go to the Pleasure Pavilion more often to spend the night with girls...

Before Brother Wei could finish fantasizing about the pleasures of the Pleasure Pavilion, he suddenly felt a patch of white dust being thrown towards his face... Sand got into his eyes, and he couldn't see!

Not good...

Brother Wei immediately retracted his saber, wildly waving it in front of him to protect himself.

"You're playing dirty, you bastard... Ah!"

A chill suddenly ran down the back of his head. The next moment, Brother Wei couldn't speak and fell straight to the ground. An arrow had pierced the back of his head, spilling brain matter all over the place, emitting a pungent, fishy odor.

"I'm old now, I don't like direct confrontations and slashes. Moreover, when facing life and death, who cares about playing fair or dirty? I just want to kill you with zero risk."

Xie An had long passed the age of being impetuous and eager for a fight. He certainly didn't feel that showing weakness somehow harmed his dignity. He just wanted to win steadily!

Just then, Chen He's cry for help came from a distance.

"Old Xie, save me!!"